Synopses & Reviews
Like the rest of the baby-boom generation, Norman Solomon grew up in a nation of dazzling progress and ominous shadows. Behind the upbeat TV shows and glib optimism there lurked private anguish and the specter of nuclear holocaust. Young people confronted a divisive war in Vietnam and distress in their own lives. Now, several decades later, Americans face similar divisions and a potentially endless "war on terror."
Blending personal history and social commentary, Made Love, Got War documents five decades of rising American militarism and the media's all-too-frequent failure to challenge it. The author's unique weave of personal narrative and historical inquiry, Daniel Ellsberg notes in the foreword, "helps us understand where we are now and how we got here."
Drawing on 40 years of intense activism, Solomon shows how the mainstream media have shaped our view of war, technology, and national purpose. In the process, he also shows why he is considered "one of the sharpest media-watchers in the business" (Barbara Ehrenreich) and "a formidable thinker and activist" (Los Angeles Times).
Solomon's firsthand experiences and compelling narrative raise an essential question: To what ends should America use its awesome political, economic, media, and scientific power? Made Love, Got War will help readers to find meaningful answers.
Review
"Here is a book with a thousand memories for those of us who came of political age while living through urban riots, the Vietnam War, and the Nixon years. Norman Solomon, one of America’s most respected progressive voices, gets personal in this account of living through the age of Vietnam, Nixon, tie-dye T-shirts, girlfriends, and even the music that will forever waft through the minds of those of us who were there. Those of us who, like journalist Solomon, will never forget it." Phil Donahue
Review
"Norman Solomon has consistently done all he can to be a public voice for those who have no voice: those who fight and those who die in war. And he does it with excellent, interesting and intelligent style, something terribly lacking in today's media. Everything he does brings nourishment to America's modern literary wasteland." Joe McDonald, Country Joe and the Fish
Review
"A kaleidoscope of personal adventures and political insights sprinkled with cultural icons from Bob Dylan to James Baldwin, Made Love, Got War is an enthralling journey from the Cold War to the war on terror. With great flair, Solomon evolves from a teenage hippie drop-out arrested for spray-painting into a top-notch journalist who travels to war zones with Congressmen and Hollywood stars without ever giving up his thirst for peace, love and social justice. A fascinating read!" Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace
Review
"Norman Solomon's latest book combines his customary expert dissection of the role of the media and the military establishment in America with his own personalized account of growing up and growing radicalized. From the launch of Sputnik in 1957 to the debacle in Iraq 50 years later, Norman's descriptions of key events are a perfect backdrop to his critique of our country's increasingly militaristic development of the science of death and of the media's failure to question. We should all heed his call to activism, or our children’s future could be in doubt." Congresswoman, Lynn Woolsey
Review
"A great contribution to the people's history of the Iraq War." Tom Hayden, author of Ending the War in Iraq
Synopsis
First published in 2008. The strands of this book form a unique weave of personal narrative and historical inquiry. Made Love, Got War lays out a half century of socialized insanity that has brought a succession of aggressive wars under cover of--but at recurrent risk of detonating--a genocidal nuclear arsenal.
Synopsis
Like the rest of the Baby-Boom Generation, author and activist Norman Solomon, grew up in a nation of dazzling progress and ominous shadows. In Made Love, Got War he traces five decades of American politics and culture to dramatize a set of disturbing trends in American public life--most notably warfare abroad and acquiescence at home. Blending personal history and social commentary, Made Love, Got War documents five decades of rising American militarism and the media's all-too-frequent failure to challenge it. As Daniel Ellsberg notes in the forward, the author's unique weave of eyewitness narrative and historical inquiry "helps us understand where we are now and how we got here." Solomon's firsthand experiences and compelling narrative raise an essential question: To what ends should America use its awesome political, economic, media and scientific power? Made Love, Got War will help readers find meaningful answers.
Synopsis
Author, activist, and columnist Solomon traces five decades of American politics and culture to dramatize a set of disturbing trends in American public life--most notably warfare abroad and acquiescence at home.
Synopsis
Blending personal history and social commentary, Made Love, Got War documents five decades of rising American militarism and the media 's all-too-frequent failure to challenge it. The author 's unique weave of personal narrative and historical inquiry, Daniel Ellsberg notes in the foreword, helps us understand where we are now and how we got here. Drawing on 40 years of intense activism, Solomon shows how the mainstream media have shaped our view of war, technology, and national purpose. In the process, he also shows why he is considered one of the sharpest media-watchers in the business (Barbara Ehrenreich) and a formidable thinker and activist (Los Angeles Times).
About the Author
Norman Solomon is the author of twelve books, including War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death and, with Reese Erlich, Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You. Solomon is a nationally syndicated columnist on media and politics. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and many other newspapers. A frequent guest on television and radio, he was featured in Bill Moyers' recent PBS documentary Buying the War and a full-length film adaptation of War Made Easy produced by the Media Education Foundation. Solomon is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is a recipient of the George Orwell Award, which honors distinguished contributions to honesty and clarity in public language.